BBC News – Today – Inside the family courts

Last month the government announced it was planning to remove most Legal Aid from private law cases in the Family Courts. These include matters of divorce, separation, custody and residence for children.

The aim of the change is to push more separating parents to solve their problems through mediation, which is a cheaper, more permanent and less fraught route.

But judges and lawyers within the Family Courts say that many cases will not be resolved that way. They believe difficult complex and entrenched cases will still come to court, but without lawyers.

Parents will represent themselves, as litigants in person. These cases usually take longer, putting extra pressure on a system already stretched.

Within the family courts there are many litigants in person even now. People who can’t agree with their exes, but who earn too much to qualify for Legal Aid, too little to employ a lawyer.

As journalists are now allowed to report Family Law cases – with restrictions to protect identities – I recently spent several days in the courts, trying to see how litigants in person actually fare.

I sat in one hearing where a mother was trying to get financial provision for her son from her ex partner.

Well educated – well prepared – she was nonetheless wrong-footed. At the door of the court, her ex partner’s barrister presented her with a new document.

Family Courts can prove a daunting prospects for litigants

This was a financial statement: a detailed breakdown of the father’s income and expenses. The mother saw this as key to her case, but she had no chance to read or analyse it before going into court.

Nor had she realised this was the final hearing. She had to cross examine her partner in the witness box — an uncomfortable experience. She hadn’t been able to investigate his finances, as a lawyer might have done. She had to ask him open questions like “is that your only bank account?”

The judge intervened several times – to explain a point, or to warn the mother her questions were too close to comment.

So, though scheduled for a morning, this hearing took all day. The judge did make provision for the child – but not as much as the mother had hoped. She felt that with a lawyer she’d have got more.

Sometimes litigants in person do get what they want. I spoke to a father who’d been seeking contact with his child: he’d been separated from the mother for several years. He had been in court six times to no avail: each time, the mother did not appear.

He’d consulted the Personal Support Unit, a charity which supports litigants in person and helps them navigate the processes and paperwork. They’d told him he could ask that a penal notice be attached to the next order, so the mother could face penalties if she didn’t turn up.

She did come to the next hearing, and he managed to see his child. His voice cracked as he described what happened next: he’d gone to his ex-wife’s house, accompanied by a Cafcass worker, a welfare officer employed by the court.

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“My son ran down the stairs, came up to me, gave me a massive hug and said “I’ve waited so long for this dad!”

Both these cases were relatively straightforward. But complex ones, for instance where there’s an allegation of abuse, can be far tougher for litigants in person. I observed one case where a father wanted contact with his children, but he’d been accused of sexually assaulting one of them.

The court ordered a “fact finding” hearing – experts will be commissioned to investigate and report, so that the court can determine whether the allegation is true. Then it will consider the question of contact.

The judge ordered that the child in question be represented: it will have its own solicitor, publicly funded. In this case, both parents had lawyers.

If they didn’t they could find themselves in the tricky position of having to question an expert witness, a doctor for instance, about evidence that was terribly personal to them, while their child’s position was clearly defined and argued before the court.

Lawyers are particularly concerned about cases of alleged domestic violence. The government plans to provide Legal Aid for the alleged victims, but not the perpetrators.

Complex cases can see children, and parents all represented by lawyers

This “has huge implications for the administration of justice” according to Stephen Cobb QC, Chair of the Family Law Bar Association. It could result in a hearing where an alleged abuser had to represent themselves, while the alleged victim had lawyers.

That could mean the victim could find themselves in the witness box, cross examined by their abuser. That, in his view, “is only likely to reinforce the experience of abuse… which is what the courts and the government are trying to protect the victim from.”

I asked the Ministry of Justice to respond to specific points: the risk of greater delays in the family courts, the risk of unbalanced hearings in domestic violence cases. They gave me a general statement:

“Legal Aid will and must continue to be available to victims of domestic violence or child abuse. That is why the government has specifically chosen to protect these areas of legal aid scope, along with other cases where people’s life or liberty is at stake, or where they are at risk of serious physical harm.”

“In addition we propose a new exceptional funding scheme for excluded cases which international or domestic law will require to be funded by the taxpayer. This will, for example, ensure funding for extremely complex cases involving vulnerable people.”

“The taxpayer cannot continue to fund the current, extremely expensive, system of Legal Aid that encourages drawn-out and often acrimonious disputes between private individuals when there are other routes, such as mediation, which can produce better results for all concerned.”

Useful External Links

Alert Now UK
The Delta Recon Group is directed in Mission with in the protection of youth, the vulnerable as the communities they call home. Alert Now is a tool with in hte protection of communities and the people that call them home.

CourtServe Information Centre – Court Lists distributors
Courtel Communications delivers a comprehensive Court List distribution service in electronic format to the legal community in England and Wales. Courtel’s business is geared to enhancing efficiency for court-related professions by supplying a secure, rel

Criminal Cases Review Commission
The Criminal Cases Review Commission is the independent public body set up to investigate possible miscarriages of justice in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Commission assesses whether convictions or sentences should be referred to a court of a

FASO – False Allegations
FASO is a voluntary organisation dedicated to supporting anyone affected by a false allegation of abuse

FASSIT – Families and Social Services Information Team
A non-governmental voluntary organisation independent of Local Authority Social Services Departments. Fassit provides email support with specialist help, information and advice for families with children experiencing frustration in working with Social Ser

FASSIT Forums
Fassit Forums was set up for parents whose children have been removed by social services to give and receive support from each other. It is an organisation independent of Local Authority Social Services Departments.Fassit Forums does not condone any actio

Fathers 'R' Us
A non-governmental voluntary website independent of any official interference or financial support. Fathers ‘r’ us provides a website containing information, advice and support for Fathers and their children after separation or divorce.

FLINT – Families Link International
Flint has evolved as a result from the lack of comprehension towards family matters that is frequently demonstrated by the UK legal system and other associated organisations. Flint has been developed into a politically independent social policy research c

Forced Adoption
Site created by Ian Josephs to provide information on the law, your rights, and how to stop Forced Adoption

Grandparent's Network
Informative site for Grandparents providing advice on roles & responsibilities, as well as your Rights

Grandparents Apart
Self-help group providing information for grandparents & extended family. Grandparents – We are a self-help group dedicated to ease the suffering of grandparents and grandchildren and extended families torn apart. If you feel your problems could be re

HMCS – her Majesty's Court Service
Her Majesty’s Courts Service (HMCS) is an executive agency of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). Our remit is to deliver justice effectively and efficiently to the public. We are responsible for managing the magistrates’ courts, the Crown Court, county c

Information Commissioners Office – ICO
The Information Commissioner’s Office is the UK’s independent authority set up to uphold information rights in the public interest, promoting openness by public bodies and data privacy for individuals. Also advises you on how to obtain records being

Judiciary of England & Wales
Govenment site providing information on the Law in England & Wales. Includes publications of forms and documents necessary for filing into court. The history of our judicial system and proposals for reform and review are also listed here

Justice for Families
Justice for Families is the Public Family Law Reform Coordinating Campaign. It is chaired by John Hemming MP and has been set up to support families who have suffered at the hands of a system that is urgently in need of reform

Justice for Our Children
Provides information on statutory rights, legislations, Local Authority, and any related media/news articles, external links, & documents useful for Family Court Proceedings

Law & Parents
This is an excellent website motivated to provide the highest quality of information possible on Parent’s Rights & Responsibilties

Men's Aid
Campaign for equality with information on Domestic Abuse, Family Law, Human Rights & Sex Discrimination. The idea for Men’s Aid was initialy conceived in 2002 as a way to highlight and help other parents who had problems with the inequality of the

MIND- For Better Mental Health
Mind publishes information on many topics relating to mental health, which we group into seven broad categories: diagnoses and conditions, treatments, mental health statistics, support and social care, communities and social groups, and society and enviro

Natural Parents Network – NPN
For Natural parents who have lost their children to adoption. Natural Parents Network is a self help organisation, which offers non-judgmental, confidential and independent support to people who share similar experiences.Natural Parents Network (NPN) is a

NSCFC – National Society for Children and Family Contact
Site campaigning to keep families together & promoting contact The NSCFC – Keeping the child in everyone’s life – When a relationship breaks down it isn’t just the partners who suffer. It’s the children who have most to lose; and not just be

Ombudsman Watch – Local Government
The objective of Local Government Ombudsman Watch is to motivate others into campaigning for the abolition of the LGO and its replacement with a truly independent local government complaints tribunal, where no member previously worked for a council. One

Ombudsman Watcher's Resource Centre
Affiliate of Ombudsman site. The truth about Public Services and Local Government Ombudsmen. Archiving evidence on your local Ombudsman. We are not responsible for any information provided by the sites we link to and are not connected to any public forum

Prevent Child Abuse
This website was created to allow survivors of abuse to share their feelings, emotions and experiences in an atmosphere of safety , kindness and understanding.

Researching Reform
Researching Reforms seeks changes in current Family Law. It is a working project and an online platform dedicated towards simplifying the family justice system and finding solutions to the current problems faced by families and practitioners alike. Resea

The Bar Council
The General Council of the Bar (Bar Council) is the Approved Regulator of the Bar of England and Wales. It discharges its regulatory functions through the independent Bar Standards Board.

UAI – United Against Injustice
**Does not promote individual cases** United Against Injustice is an association of independent member organisations. Each of the member groups meets regularly and actively supports two or more cases. Groups set up to support just one case cannot be me

Unity Injustice
Unity-Injustice is a support and information organisation that has grown out of an increasing number of parents (carers, guardians etc) frustrated at attempting to work with Social Services in the best interests of their child/children. Initially a campai

Women's Aid
Women’s Aid is the key national charity working to end domestic violence against women and children. We support a network of over 500 domestic and sexual violence services across the UK.

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